Privacy

I am of the opinion that we should all be worried about privacy in a world where technology speeds ahead waiting for no one, often respecting no one. We don’t know who’s listening, who’s compiling data on us, who’s looking at us.

          Did you know that if your computer is hacked, or you use a public server, the camera on it can become a means of spying on you? It is said that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg covers his computer camera with tape. This is something I always do. If someone wants to look at me through my computer camera, they can only do so with my permission.

          Amazon’s Alexa is known to have recorded some conversations in private homes. How about that for stealing privacy? But that’s not the only culprit. We tend to be our own worst enemy on the internet by giving companies much data without our realizing it when we shop or when we rate preferences or anything else we write or do online.

          Also, how often are we asked to agree to this or that. Allow this or that. Do we always read what we’re agreeing to? You can get lost in some long privacy agreements and may give up before reading that it includes our agreeing to giving complete and permanent access to what we do on line.

          In North America tech companies are legally allowed to collect and sell our personal data which can generate targeted ads and so on. That’s one of the reasons your computer, or rather ads, are on a first-name basis with you. You’re reading something on the internet when a pop-up ads appears calling you by name. You have provided your name at some point when you bought something and the data has been noted and sold.

          That’s why I have devised my personal “computer engineering” system. I am not always truthful when I give my name. I use different names for different uses calling myself Cutie Smith or Lavender Doe. So when a targeted ad says: Hi there, Cutie. Have we got a special for you today ...  Or when I get an email addressing me as Lavender I know where the information originated. Not that it really matters given the real lack of any human involvement in all of it. Computerized machines reign today and are often really annoying.

          It’s not insane to think that in the so distant future your alarm clock will record and report how often you sleep in, or you may find yourself wondering if your car keeps tab on your driving habits and is reporting the information to your insurance company or even the police.

          My advice: Don’t think about it too much if you want to sleep tonight!